Lightening Your Converse with Bleach
Remove the laces from your shoes. If you leave them in place, they may become discolored or prevent the canvas from evenly bleaching in areas where the laces touch the shoes. If your laces are dingy, you could bleach them separately if they are white, put them into the washing machine, or consider purchasing new ones.
Use a wet rag to wipe away any visible dirt from the shoes. To help your shoes bleach more evenly, clear away as much visible dirt and dust as you can. If there is a lot of caked in dirt, you may even want to use a scrub brush and cold water to loosen and remove it. This applies to the base of your shoes, too, as the entire shoe will be submerged in bleach, not just the canvassed section. Try to use a standard fabric cleaner first before resorting to harsh chemicals like bleach.
Put the shoes facedown in a clean, plastic tub. Take your shoes and tub to a well-ventilated area, like an open garage or an outdoor patio or yard. Make sure there are no cracks in the plastic tub to prevent bleach leaks. If you don’t have a plastic tub, you could also use a bucket or a large plastic bowl.
Pour equal amounts of bleach and water into the tub to cover the shoes. Wear plastic gloves and clothing that you won’t mind ruining in case you accidentally splash the bleach. Never use 100% bleach on your Converse shoes—it’s really abrasive and can eat away at the canvas or actually turn them yellow rather than white. Diluting the bleach 50/50 with water prevents those things from happening. You do want the shoes to be completely submerged in the bleach-water mixture so they bleach evenly.
Leave the tub outdoors or in a well-ventilated area overnight. Or, if you started the bleaching process in the morning or afternoon, set a timer for 8 hours and check your shoes after that time. Leaving them in for longer won’t hurt them. If your goal is to completely whiten your colored Converse shoes, the longer they spend in the bleach, the better. If you are simply looking to lighten a darkly colored pair of Converse shoes, try leaving them in the bleach for 2-3 hours and then check the progress to see if they’re light enough yet.
Remove the shoes from the bleach and scrub them with soap and water. Wearing your rubber gloves and old clothes, remove your Converse shoes from the plastic tub and take them to a kitchen sink. Rinse them in warm water, and squirt some laundry detergent onto the canvas. Use a scrub brush to clean them. If you don’t have a scrub brush, you could use an old toothbrush. The bleach will have already done its work, so you won’t be undoing anything, but it’s important to rinse away the bleach residue so it doesn’t transfer onto other fabrics. Don’t forget to scrub the soles of the shoes as well as the canvas!
Repeat the process 1-2 more times if your shoes aren’t light enough. Depending on how light or white you want your shoes to be, and how dark they were to begin with, you might need to repeat the bleaching process. Remember to always wear gloves when working with bleach and to keep the plastic tub in a well-ventilated area. If you were simply re-whitening dingy, white Converse shoes, 1 round in the bleach tub should be enough.
Allow the shoes to air dry before lacing and wearing them again. Leave your shoes outside in the sun or place them on a waterproof surface to let them dry out. It may take an entire day for them to get dry, depending on the humidity and moisture levels in your area. Never put your Converse shoes into the dryer or in front of a heat source, as the heat will weaken the adhesive and change the canvas texture.
Decorating Your Shoes with a Bleach Pen
Take the laces out of your shoes to keep them from getting discolored. If they are dingy, you could use this time to throw them into the washing machine or clean them by hand. If your laces are really old and thin, it may be time to consider purchasing some new ones. Removing the laces will also give you more space to work and will let you see the entire canvas clearly.
Place your shoes on a work surface covered in old newspapers. If you don’t have old newspapers, you could use magazines, old folders, or cardboard. Create a large enough workspace for your shoes, as well as for your materials. Work in a well-lit room if you can.
Practice drawing your design before using your bleach pen. If you are doing something more complex, like flowers, geometric shapes, or even animals, doing a few practice runs will help prevent you from making mistakes. Use a few sheets of paper to sketch out your design, and then lay the design over top of your Converse shoes to make sure it will fit in that space. You could also use a pencil to lightly sketch a design directly onto your shoes so you have a pattern to follow.
Use your bleach pen to create the design on your colored shoes. Test the bleach pen on a paper towel before you start to use it, and then squeeze it gently while you draw for the best results. Take your time and enjoy being creative! Make sure to shake your bleach pen really well before using it! Here are some fun design ideas for your Converse: polka dots, stripes, different sized triangles and geometric shapes, a checkerboard pattern, stars, hearts, and flowers.
Re-bleach areas of your design that you want to stand out. If there are areas that are too light or that you want to be “brighter” than the rest, simply go over that area with the bleach pen again. Be careful to not squeeze the pen too hard and cause the bleach to bleed across the canvas, though. You could make certain dots in your polka dot pattern larger for a fun variation. Or you could emphasize a big star amidst multiple smaller stars.
Rinse your shoes in water and wash them with dish soap. Don’t worry about washing away the work you just did—the bleach has already done its job! But you do still need to take your shoes to a sink and scrub them with dish soap and water to get rid of any bleach remnants that could stain other fabrics. Because you aren’t working with stringent, undiluted bleach, you don’t need to worry about wearing plastic gloves while rinsing the shoes.
Let your shoes dry for several hours before re-lacing and wearing them. Squeeze any excess water out of the shoes using some paper towels, then set the shoes aside to let them dry. You could place the shoes outside in the sun or back on your workstation. Do not put your Converse shoes into the dryer or near any other direct heat sources because the heat can ruin the adhesive in the shoes.
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